Destiny 2: Prophecy of the Hybrid
by The Virtual Warlock
Summary: When Max took back the City from the Concordat, little did he know that there is a new danger that threatens the Guardians' existence. Dominus Ghaul has arrived in the Sol System, capturing the Traveler for his own, and shunning Guardians out of their City. To make matters worse, there is a new prophecy, one that could end the Universe, one that involves his and Shin's future child
1. The (Cabal) Empire Strikes Back

**The (Cabal) Empire Strikes Back**

 _What makes a Guardian, well, a Guardian? I'd say it depends on who you are, what you do, and the choices you make. In my line of work, I've known two kinds of Guardians regardless of their class (Warlock, Titan, and most importantly, Hunter) and subclass (Arc, Solar, or Void): Ghouls and Recruits. Ghouls, like Max, Ikora, Saladin, Anna, or my frienemies, Tevis and Eris, are all bound to their class and can be revived at will. Recruits, like Eriana-3, Felwinter-1, Ouros, Cass, Graham, or myself, have complete freedom to choose what class they want to be and which subclasses to use (Though most of them prefer to stick with the class of their choice), but once they're dead, they remain dead until their Ghost or someone else revives them. (I've known only one Recruit to actually master all of the subclasses, and it pains me to say it, his name is Felwinter.)_

 _There are some Guardians, both Ghouls, and Recruits that have turned to the dark side: Dredgen Yor, Toland, The Shattered, Levithan-3, Erik Larson, Veronica Smith, Jess Malphur, etc. etc. Toland and Leviathan became obsessed with power that came from the Darkness, so they sought to control it, in the case of Yor and Jess, they were transformed by the Darkness, and as for Erik and Veronica, they were already evil when they arose. But do you know what they have in common? All of them were later killed by Guardians who align themselves with the Traveler's Light._

 _Today, I just want to thank Max and myself for making this Age of Triumph possible, but mostly myself because I got him where he needs to be._

\- Cayde-6's journal entry, dated 30th of June, 2762

* * *

September 6th, 2762

Cayde walked into the Hall of Guardians eating from a cup of spicy ramen, with noodles hanging from his mouth. _That date with Amanda was AWESOME!_

His Ghost handed him a napkin, "Wipe your face clean, Cayde!"

"Sorry, Ghost," said the Hunter Vanguard, "But I LOVE spicy ramen!"

"Moreso than Amanda?"

"No," Cayde answered quickly, but his toned down voice spoke the truth, "...maybe." Once he entered the Hall of Guardians, he saw Ikora standing on the left floor, separate from the Vanguard table in the center of the sunken floor, and Anna at the helm of said table. Frames, Humans, and Awoken were stationed at each of the surrounding computers in the room, monitoring the defense, satellite, and sensor feeds from the consoles. As he walked down the half flight of stairs and to his spot on the table, Cayde said, "Ikora, if you tell me, 'This is a practical joke,'" he paused and turned to look at the Warlock Vanguard, "Well it kills me to say it, but I'm damn impressed!"

"Impressing you Cayde, is the easiest thing I'll do all day," remarked Ikora.

Lieutenant Anna R'allu stood in full battle armor except for her helmet, showing off her bright blue skin and wavy navy blue hair cut to medium-short length, and her glowing yellow eyes could pierce any lie that was thrown at her, and as of today, any joke, too. "Let's get serious people..."

* * *

Malahayahti stood outside the Guardian break room in the hangar, waiting for an opportunity to charge in and disrupt the FWC's joint-ritual with the New Monarchy. The victim of this ritual was an unwilling Shin Malphur. Both Factions were able to legally kidnap Shin in the middle of the night, stuff her inside a ghastly machine, and see how she connects to a new prophecy. As Sub-Mind of Earth, Mala knew that barging in like a bull would be fruitless, as would waiting too long. She looked in one of the wide-open lockers belonging to a newcomer (newcomers don't rooms or 'stashes' until they prove themselves to the City). Luckily, Mala found a crude flash-bang grenade at the bottom. _To the Titan who owns this locker, I sure hope that you won't miss this grenade._ She pulled the pin on the side, then tossed the grenade to the center of the group.

Executor Johnson looked at the grenade, was about to shout, "GET DOWN!" but the Arc flash blinded him and the others in the circle around an infernal machine.

Mala freed Shin from the machine, noticed the bruise marks on her arms and head, then said, "I'm here to rescue you!"

Shin almost fainted, but said, "Thank you."

Mala escorted her out of the machine as her Warlock friend regained her strength to walk.

Johnson called after them, "THIS IS TREASON!"

Lakshmi tried to calm Johnson down, "Relax, we have what we need."

Shin held onto her shoulders for a few seconds and mumbled, "prophecy...hybrid...Osiris."

At that moment, Osiris appeared before Shin and said, "We need to talk..."

* * *

Cayde perked up, "Anna! This is my serious face, can't you tell?"

Anna ignored the Hunter Vanguard's comment and turned her attention to the Warlock Vanguard, "Commander, what have you got?"

"Someone or something," answered Ikora, "has sabotaged the Skyline Defense Systems."

Cayde turned to his newly-established computers and added, "And comms have been spotty for the past few hours; every sensor and system beyond the wall has gone dark."

Anna looked at her tablet and eyed the windows in a jerk, "Could be a malfunction or this storm," then a chilling thought washed over her, "Or maybe..." She turned to Ikora, "What about the Satellite feeds, and the weather report?"

Ikora looked at her tablet, "Nothing."

"That's good, right?" asked Cayde.

"No!" exclaimed Ikora with wide eyes, "I mean that they've disappeared, and with them, the weather report!"

Cayde's eyes widened as well, "And that's not a good thing."

Anna stared into the black cumulonimbus clouds, then there was a flash of lighting, revealing not one, not 10, not even 100, but 1000 Cabal Warships heading for the City, launching an endless barrage of missiles. "BATTLE STATIONS!" cried the Titan Vanguard into her microphone, delivering the message to all Guardians in the City. She stood near the window and shouted, "Everyone with me, NOW!" and she popped (deployed) a Ward of Dawn, prompting everyone to get inside and stay protected from the barrage. The missiles destroyed most of the consoles and banners; Frames and I.T.'s were caught in the blasts. Cayde summoned his Golden Gun and fired two shots at the Warships, but to no avail. Ikora grabbed Cayde and blinked into the Void bubble, just before an I-beam crushed both of them. As soon as everyone was inside, Anna supplied more of her Void Light to the Ward, keeping it strong against the missiles, until another wave ruptured the bubble, forcing everyone to run for their lives, leaving the Vanguard and Crucible halls in a smoldering mess.

* * *

While the Vanguard were discussing their situation, Mala walked out of the break room with Shin resting up against her arms. As she assisted Shin up the steps, Osiris filled the Warlock in about the new prophecy, "This prophecy threatens to bring-"

"-Dagor Dagorath," she finished, "I know, you told me inside the machine. What I don't know is what it's saying!"

They felt the hangar quaking under our feet as more missiles headed towards us. Two Defender Titans ran out of the break room to help them, popping and overlapping their Wards, defending all of us from the missile blasts. "Shin," they said, "we're sorry that we witnessed your suffering and did nothing to stop it. Please accept this as our apology."

"Thank you!" replied the Warlock.

Osiris continued with, "Anyway, shall I recite the Prophecy of the Hybrid?" Shin nodded, and Osiris chanted:

 _Two sides of a coin, the Light and the Dark,  
When they battle and clash, they leave a mark._  
 _A child born underneath a blood moon,_  
 _Their destiny is sealed all too soon._  
 _Among the masses, their name shall sew fears,_  
 _For their parent, they will reap endless tears._  
 _Hybrid will tilt Universe's balance,_  
 _Toward the Light or the Dark Lord's malice._

Shin widened her eyes. The Titans looked at her funny and said, "Too many missiles?"

The two women didn't say a word. Osiris concluded, "That is the Prophecy of the Hybrid, and this time, this prophecy cannot be negated." And he vanished, without a trace.

* * *

Dominus Ghaul stood at the bridge of his command ship looking at the insignificant City below. _Humanity, what a frail, fragile, weak, and stupid race. They are not worthy of the Traveler or its Light!_ "Open the Trapper! Set its talons loose on the Traveler!"

The Trapper opened up its needle, revealing 6 different legs, each one acted like an octopus tentacle, latching onto a celestial body, such as the Traveler, and it began to drain the Body's energy source, the Light. _Now!_ thought Ghaul, _Time to teach them a lesson about their drug!_

* * *

I was piloting my ship towards the City after an extensive patrol of the Cosmodrome just to make sure that SIVA was still an asset to us. My Ghost and friend, Jared, opened our comms channel once again, "Repeat, Tower approach. This is City Hawk 723: Anyone home?"

I spoke through the comms, "Shin? Mala? Is everything alright?"

Nothing but silence from the other end. "No responses on any frequencies or amplitudes, not even the emergency ones!" exclaimed the Ghost.

"What on Earth is going on there?" I asked.

After 3 seconds of silence, Jared asked, "Max, remember when I said that you drove too fast in the Before?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, forget my criticisms and floor it!"

I did so, racing through a black smoke cloud, then a red one, reaching the burning City. The ship dropped us off at the wrecked Vanguard Hall. "Our home!" I cried, "Everything is burning down! The Tower, the City!"

"Even the spicy ramen shops!" Jared added.

"Come on!" I said, "There might be survivors! We need to find them and get them to safety!" I ran across to the opposite corner of the Hall, only to find a wall explode in my face, revealing 2 Cabal Legionaries outfitted with improved armor and Arc rifles. I drew my Outbreak Prime and fired at the assailants. Despite their improvements, the helmets could be easily popped, exposing them to Earth's atmosphere and watch them suffocate, or their armor could be battered until their organs are crushed. As I advanced in the hallway, Anna made the evacuation announcement to the entire City, then I saw a Titan fighting off two Cabal Legionaries, only to be grabbed by the neck then smashed into the ground, face first. I avenged the Titan as soon as I could, then moved forward to another door, only to find Cayde-6 open it from the other end with his back. This Vanguard was dressed lightly and wore a cape with a hood that was known as a Hunter's Cloak. His face and eyes were sea blue, as was his rectangular unicorn horn. His mouth was a different story, glowing orange instead of blue.

"Cayde!" I said, "Watch out!"

"Hey, you two!" he said, "Give me a sec!" The Hunter Vanguard pulled out his Golden Gun, fired 3 shots into the 3 charging Legionaries in front of him.

Jared asked, "What is going on out there!?"

"Lieutenant Anna is doing the hero thing in the plaza," answered Cayde, "Me? I've got a date with whoever is behind this. It'll be short and it'll end when a bullet kisses their head!" He ran off without another word.

I ran past him and the Crucible Hall, walking up the stairs while noticing Eris's crushed urns, until reaching a crowd of people guarded by Lord Shaxx. He was a Titan decorated in white and orange with one horn on the left side of his helmet, a broken one on his right, a cape with a fur collar, and Shin's Raze-Lighter across his back. "Over here, Max!" shouted the Crucible Handler.

As I walked by the people, exchanging looks and handshakes, and maybe the occasional Netflix suggestion when all of this is over, I could hear some of them whisper, "It's The Warlock!", "The Hero of the People! He's come to rescue us!", "He saved us from Lysander and the Concordat!", and the one comment that I hoped never to hear, "You don't know how much I love you, Max."

I sighed to myself, then straightened my back for Shaxx, "It's good to see you in one piece, Shaxx. You and these people."

"The Crucible hardened me for this fight! You, on the other hand, faced different trials! And it's good to see you in one piece, too," he opened the next door with his muscles and said, "Take what you need, this goes for all of you here!" gesturing to the people behind him. Everyone rushed inside, I grabbed a sniper rifle and ran out the other door, shooting down Cabal Legionaries as I went through some darkened hallways and rooms just to reach the Hangar. Everyone else followed behind Shaxx and me. Along the way, 2 Centurions came out of one of the last doorways, wielding a 5-barreled cannon and a jetpack. To our surprise, their cannons fired Void shots! Once we took cover, Shaxx exclaimed, "Cabal wielding the Void!? But how!?"

"I don't know!" I answered honestly, "And I don't want to find out today!" I threw a Fusion Grenade at one, then a Storm Grenade at the other, killing both and frying their equipment. "Coast is clear! Let's move!"

As soon as we reached the Tower Hangar, Jared noticed a large Cabal Warship emblazoned with a white, two-layered, rectangular arch on its side, cut at angles facing away from the middle at each end. "Look at the size of that thing!" he said, "That must be their Command Ship!" I turned to the right and fired at the attacking Cabal, protecting the people behind me and 4 Guardians in the middle of the Hangar. One of the Guardians was a Hunter with a purple coat of paint, grey lips, black wires, and white LEDs in her mouth, complemented by her deep green eyes; two of them were Titans, but the last one was a pregnant Warlock, Shin Malphur.

I shouted, "Shin!" and ran over to her, hugging her with both arms, "I thought I'd never see you again."

She rubbed my back and replied, "It's ok, we're here now."

Mala, the purple Hunter said, "I'd love to stick around and chat, but we have people to escort out of the City!"

Shin and I broke away and said, "Agreed, let's go to Anna!" The three of us jumped up to a ledge leading to the Plaza, while Shaxx led his people through a detour into the Plaza.

The three Vanguard came onto the comms, "Ok, Commander?" said Cayde, "My Ghost keeps pinging these Cabal as 'Red Legion.' Do you what that legion is?"

There was a long pause before Ikora answered with, "THEY'RE ELITE! An ancient Cabal faction dedicated to serving their power-hungry commander! Their presence here means that we are not walking out of this fight unscathed at the very least."

"And at most?"

"At most, they'll wipe us into extinction."

"How...cheerful."

"But that is irrelevant! They are threatening the Traveler!"

"Negative!" shouted Anna, "The Traveler can wait, the People come first!"

"But the Legion has never known defeat! They carry a flawless record!"

"And we'll be the ones to shatter it!"

We ran outside after navigating the debris. The clouds surrounding the City were jet black with a hint of fire, covering the sky. Warships hovered over the City, firing at everything in sight except for each other. We took one good look at the Traveler and said, "WHAT THE HELLMOUTH HAVE THEY ATTACHED TO THE TRAVELER!?"

2 big Cabal pods were launched at us, but we backed away just in time. The pods collapsed, revealing 3 different Legionaries in each one, prompting them to fire at us. Unlike the Cabal on Mars where their armor was shoddy and could barely fit together, the Red Legion was equipped with state-of-the-art armor sealants and plasma weapons, with laser shields for the Phalanxes. We equipped our Outbreak Prime Pulse Rifles from behind cover and started firing at the Cabal.

Anna spoke over our comms, "GUYS! RALLY TO ME!"

Once we ran up to Anna, who was near the door to the Iron Banner balcony of the Tower, I said, "Lieutenant! It's good to see you!"

"Likewise, Max! But now's not the time for sentiment, the Cabal have-" At that moment, a Warship launched a barrage of missiles at us and at the two pillars to either side of the Iron Banner Balcony. Anna popped a Ward of Dawn, "Fall back to my position!" We did so, while Shaxx and his people popped up from the Gunsmith's vendor. As soon as the barrage and Ward died, Shaxx ran to the door and held it open for the people to escape, while Anna, Mala, Shin, and I drove the Red Legion away from the doors, away from the civilians. All of us used our Supers at least once when dealing with the Cabal.

Once the civilians were safe behind the door, Shaxx closed it behind himself saying, "Someone needs to defend them!" and he was gone.

Commander Ikora announced over the comms, "Lieutenant, the last of the shuttles is away. But The Speaker...she never made it. I'm going to look for her!"

"I've got the Plaza, go to Commander Ikora and find Speaker Ouros!"

"We're on it, Lieutenant!" I said, leading Shin and Mala through the hallway leading to Tower North. Just before the second doorway in the hallway was a Cleaner Frame that was sweeping up Cabal blood, singing a tune with its beepers that sounded like "Carry on my Wayward Son," and I couldn't help but sing along and pay homage to the Frame.

The door opened up to Tower North, revealing 3 Legionaries that were bombarded by Ikora's Nova Bomb. We ran out to meet her, only to find that the Speaker's Office was removed. We shouted, "Commander!"

"The Speaker is gone!" she cried. Then she turned to an approaching Cabal Thrasher ship, her sorrow quickly turned to anger and rage, and she shouted, "RED LEGION! YOU WILL TAKE NO MORE FROM US! AND YOU WILL FIND **NO MERCY FROM ME!** " She jumped up, glided over the ship, and hurled another Nova Bomb at the engines, sending it crashing down, taking her with it.

"Ikora!" I cried.

"She'll find the Speaker, I have faith in our Commander," said Anna, "Now head to the other side of Tower North, Amanda Holliday is waiting for you there!

Another pod landed in front of us, releasing 3 easily-killable Legionaries. Behind the doors, opposite where the office used to be was a Cabal Incinerator, complete with heavy armor, a Flamethrower, and backpack Fuel Tank. It blasted open the doors, and we were forced to take cover from its flames' reach. Shin threw a Fusion Grenade at the tank, rupturing it and engulfing the Incinerator in flames. As we moved through the shops in Tower North, Shin and I threw more grenades at the Incinerators, and Mala handled the Legionaries and Centurions, all the way to the other end of Tower North.

Amanda hovered above us in her ship and said, "Someone told me you need some help, wanna lift?"

"Yes!" I said, "Take us!"

Her pitch decreased, "Uhh, I can't do that."

"WHY NOT!?"

"Cause this ship only has room for one other passenger, and I can't fit all 3 of you in the back!"

"Then, who will go?" asked Mala, "Who will risk their lives for us!?"

Shin said, "I'll go, FWC and New Monarchy want me dead, at least let me die fighting the Cabal!"

"No!" said Mala, "You're the Warlock of Legend! You have to live! If you go, Max will tear himself into pieces! I'll go, I'm a Sub-Mind, I can-"

"It's out of the question!" I said, "I'm going!"

Shin looked at me and said, "No!" She launched herself at me, "You can't go! I'll never forgive myself if you do!"

"It's a fool's errand!" barked Mala, "I can copy myself and give you the hard drive to plug into another Exo suit!"

"But it won't be you," I argued, "An important memory could be lost forever, a memory that would only serve to build a better image of you!"

"What if I regain it?"

"A minuscule chance. Besides, you're just as alive as the rest of us."

Mala paused for a while, then said, "But you're..." she trailed off, looking for the right term,

"Human?" I asked.

"...Important!" she corrected, "You and Shin hold this team together through the most difficult of tasks and give us the strength we need to make it through the Darkness! You are irreplaceable!"

Shin nodded, "You are loved by most, worshiped by some, and adored by all! If something did happen-"

"-Then know that I die with honor in my chest, joy in my voice, and love in my heart. None of that can be taken away by anyone, not even an emperor or a god."

Shin walked up to me and kissed me right on the lips (Cliche, I know), for what felt to be the last time, (It lasted 30 seconds to a minute, so yeah). She whispered, "Promise me that you'll return safely."

I answered, "I will."

She broke away from me and said, "I love you!"

"I love you, too!" I replied back, then turned to Amanda, "Beam me up, Scotty!"

The next thing I know, I was inside the back of the ship, listening to Amanda's conversation with Lieutenant Anna. "Lieutenant!" said the Shipwright, "Picked up that Warlock you never shut up about!"

The Titan Vanguard barked, "GET THEM ON THE COMMAND SHIP! NOW!"

Amanda shouted to me, "Hold on, back there!" and flew through rings of enemy ships, explosions, and dogfights, all of which were close to the Traveler. She looked over at the celestial orb and whispered, "Come on, big guy! Do something! Anything!"

No response, as usual.

Amanda flew directly under the Command Ship, pulled up after reaching its nose, then dropped me off at the edge of the pod launcher in the front, saying, "Alright, Max! Time to kick 'em where it hurts!"

"Roger that!" I was dropped off at the edge of the launcher, then ran up the side and into the Cabal Command Ship, slaughtering the Legionaries and hacking a terminal for a map of the ship. "Jared, can you copy this map to your memory banks?"

"Absolutely!" he scanned the terminal and said, "Aaaaand done! The shield generator should be at the back of the ship!"

"Guide me to it!"

"With pleasure! Turn around and go straight."

I ran through the wide archway to the edge of the middle of the ship, then along the edge until I hit my first left. Legionaries and Phalanxes blocked my way, all lead by an Honored Centurion, but I cut through all of them like a hot knife through butter. After taking a few rights and lefts, Anna's voice fizzled through the general comms channel, "Cayde! What...status?"

"Huh?" asked the Hunter.

"What's your status!?"

"Oh! Uh, a little low on ammo, ...my flaming pistol...burning out...news on Ikora?"

"Not since...for Speaker. [explosion] Form up! ...to me!" Then there was silence.

"We need to hurry!" I exclaimed, "Where to next?"

"Straight ahead, under the bridge, then a right."

"Bridge? What bridge!?"

The next doors opened for us, leading to the roof of the Command Ship. Two Psions began to fire concentrated Void Psionic Blasts in my direction and I returned fire with the Outbreak Prime. Straight ahead and angled 45 degrees to be perpendicular to the right-side path was a small bridge leading to a raised platform, opposite it was the door to the next room. "Oh," I said, "That bridge!" Ahead of me was a pathway with a diverting platform full of Legionaries and Psions.

Immediately after cleaning up the first platform of Cabal, A large Centurion stomped out to the bridge and bellowed, "WHO DARES TO KILL GHAUL'S SOLDIERS!?" He stared at me and growled, "I AM BRAUN, THE UNBENT BLADE! AND YOU WILL DIE BY MY HAND!" I dodged out of the way of his Void blasts, returned sniper fire to his head as soon as I could, but had to find cover because of his Void cannon. Then I fired 2 rockets from my Gjallarhorn, ripping 2 new holes into Braun's armor, but barely wounding the Centurion at all. Braun laughed, "As I said, UNBENT BLADE!" And he launched himself in my direction with his jetpack and didn't stop, even after I moved out of the way to avoid being launched off the edge. I turned around, fired at the thrusters, sending Braun screaming and rapidly flailing his limbs as he fell to the ground.

I looked over the edge from a safe distance and joked, "Consider him 'bent'."

Jared laughed, "Heh! Good one!" then straightened himself, "Ok, go straight, then down."

I gave my Ghost a puzzled look, "Down?"

The next room was chock full of Incinerators and Psions on the descent to the shield generator. I nodded, "Down indeed!" I dove to the floor, timing my jump, lining all of their shots at each other, saving my time and ammo, until I ran through the hallway, ripped through the Cabal, and reached a large turbine. "Jared? Any suggestions?"

"Find the power vents. Disable them and the generator goes down!"

"Got it!" I jumped down, threw a grenade at the first one, then jumped up to a raised platform leading to the next vent, being careful to avoid the large honeycomb turbine sweeping across the room. Once I destroyed the second power vent with my Outbreak Prime, I ran to the third vent, getting killed by the turbine just to be revived by my Ghost just to get killed again, but eventually, I made it to the vent and destroyed it, disabling the turbines as well and opening an exit for me.

"Anna!" said my Ghost, "The shield generator is down! We're headed topside!"

Nothing but static.

We ran through a winding hallway before Jared tried again, "Amanda! We need your help to escape! Do you copy?"

Again, only static filled the channels.

"Shin!" I cried, "Can you hear me!?"

Only white noise.

"Shin!? Mala!?"

The comms line died. We rushed out of the hallway and into the open air. I took one good look at the Traveler, and the six-legged mechanical parasite now had its talons fully extended around the white celestial body. Jared asked, "Super. Just how do we come back from this?"

"You don't," boomed a low ominous voice. We turned to find two large Centurions escorting a large Cabal in a regal white suit with gold lining, his face almost looked like Darth Vader semi-masked, except this villain had more lateral wrinkles than burns, and he had a thick triangular mask around his nose and mouth. I aimed my Outbreak Prime and fired on instinct, but the nanites were crushed by the sudden stop of the armor. The Cabal snatched my SIVA pulse rifle and kicked me to one side, "Really? Bullets against my armor?" He crushed the weapon in his hand and tossed me over the side. I whipped out my Gjallarhorn, but before I could fire, the Cabal jumped at me, crushed it and my sniper, throwing both over the side as well, then kicked me farther away from the door. "You think that you're the strongest species alive?"

"I don't think," I muttered, conjuring up a Nova Bomb, "I KNOW IT!" I jumped up in the air, holding my position, aiming for the Regal Cabal's head, ready for the chance to strike.

The Cabal chuckled, held out a vertical button, and pressed it, "Welcome to a world without Light!"

The talons now encased the Traveler in a marigold-colored energy field, my Nova Bomb dissipated, I felt my Light escape from my body, and I fell down to the platform, stomach first, "AUGH!" The platform met my chest with such a force that almost cracked my ribs.

Jared squealed, "Max...the traveler..." then he too fell to the platform.

I glanced at the Traveler one last time, trapped in a force field, its Light cut off from its users, the Guardians. I reached over to my Ghost to protect its shell, but as soon as I lay my hand on Jared's shell, the Regal Cabal crushed my left hand and my Ghost with his right Size 30 foot. I screamed in immense pain, "AAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUGH!"

"Do not scream or look at me, CREATURE!" He kicked me further down the platform with the same foot, causing my sword, Yuulstrang, the Dark-Drinker, to be separated from my back. The Cabal walked over to me, "You are weak, undisciplined, cowering behind walls!" He crushed Yuulstrang with his right foot, "I have conquered thousands of planets, enslaved and slaughtered millions of people, all in the name of my empire! I alone am worthy of the Traveler's Light!"

"You're wrong!" I spat, "The Traveler sees you as tyrannical, malevolent, and dangerous! We, the Guardians, are loyal to our people, wise leaders to guide humanity toward a New Golden Age, and brave enough to take on any god that threatens our way of life!"

The Cabal crushed my lower legs next. As I screamed, he bellowed, "You are not brave! While all of you were drugged with Light, You have merely forgotten the fear of death!" He held my head back, tilted towards his ugly face just so that he could say, "Allow me to reacquaint you." The Cabal smacked me towards the edge, almost causing me to lose my balance.

As I stared down at the burning City below me, I had a gut feeling that I never felt in over 700 years. I felt fear for the first time in my life as a Guardian, more specifically, a fear of dying. _He's right. That fiend was right!_

He walked over to me, "Your kind and your City never deserved the power it has given," The Cabal stood over me and said, "I am Ghaul, and your Light..." he pointed to the Traveler, "...is MINE!" With his right foot, Ghaul pushed me over the edge of his Ship.

I screamed as I fell back down to the Earth, my crushed limbs were flapping rapidly against the air, my organs were flung to my rib cage, and then my life began to flash before my eyes; opening my eyes for the first time, my first day of school, my first friends, high school graduation and first day of college, the failed election, escape to Canada, my first Fireteam, Erik's betrayal, World War 3, the Hydrogen Bomb, the raid on Putin's Palace, my resurrection, first missions with Shin, the Black Garden, the Vault of Glass, Crota's End, Oryx's arrival and death, the rise and fall of SIVA and the Concordat, and my relationship with Shin.

 _Shin. I'm sorry. I'm so so very sorry._

 _I failed._

My back met the hard and rough ground instantly, the last words I ever heard were a muffled "Max!? MAX!", then my vision blurred to black and my soul faded away.


	2. Afterlife

**"Afterlife"**

Max opened his eyes and looked around in the large dark space, decorated with stars in every direction, even below him. The floor was invisible, the gravity was much like Earth's, and for a while, Max had a sense of deja vu. _Where am I?_ he thought, looking at the empty space around him, _I land on the ground, then this happens? I should be in the City!_ Surprise and alarm slowly crawled up his spine, "WHERE THE HELLMOUTH AM I!?"

"You're dead," answered a familiar, scruffy voice, "You fell from Ghaul's ship."

Max turned around to find Saladin walking towards him, arm in arm with a white woman that he didn't recognize. The Warlock put two and two together, looked at her and guessed, "Jolder?"

Jolder nodded, "I am she."

"Cool!" nodded Max, then he turned back to Saladin, "So, how am I dead?"

Saladin gestured, "You lack the Traveler's Light and your Ghost," then challenged, "You tell me how you should be alive."

Max raised a finger, breathed in, but before he could speak, he thought about it for a while, recalculating the situation, then he lowered his hand and huffed, "touche."

Jolder let go of Saladin and said, "Do you know why you're here?"

Max shook his head, "No."

She waved her left hand towards the sky and announced, "Before the Guardians, before the Solar System, even before the Big Bang, there was Eru Illuvatar and their Ainur. Eru created the Universe with a song, The Song of Life. The Big Bang was its first note, a loud note that echoed the Creation." The stars in the sky depicted a giant cosmic figure, conducting an orchestra of humanoid lesser cosmic beings and singing with them as they played their own variety of instruments. "From it came two spaces: The Universe and The Timeless Void. Eru tasked each of his Ainur with creating different things to occupy this space, things like planets, stars, nebulas, etc. Eru breathed life into each and every cosmic thing that the Valar created, weaving all of them into their song." From the orchestra's notes and music staffs, stars glowed light blue, rock planets held green and blue paradises, gas giants stirred calmly, and nebulas nested the potential for future life, all drawn by the paths of the stars on the sides. "There was harmony, but it was short-lived..."

The sky turned crimson red as another cosmic figure was displayed, one that sang a different, wretched tune, "Melkor, the Valar who spent so much time in the Void began asking himself, 'Why won't anybody pay attention to the Void!? It needs the same love that this universe gets without question!' He sang a tune of malice, hatred, blight, and Darkness. Just as the others gave Light and life to their creations, Melkor corrupted it or took it away." Random planets were struck, turning paradise into Inferno, or nothing at all as the planet exploded into asteroids and meteors. "Melkor's sister, Manwa, defended her own planet with her own song, tithing to Eru for support, and rallied the other Valar to protect their creations from Melkor's malice." Various colored song sheets wrapped themselves around the cosmic things, blocked the wretched music staffs of Melkor.

"Melkor was furious, so he channeled his anger to corrupt Manwa's planet, Arda, the Last Paradise, in a different way: through the Maiar." Lesser beings came into focus, beings that were not singing, "Most were resistant to Melkor's word, but some of the Maiar turned into power-hungry shadow demons, the Balrogs," a good number of these beings transformed into horned creatures made of fire and shadow, "The first Maiar he corrupted was Mairon," a handsome Maiar formed in the sky, only to turn into an armored bipedal demon, "Mairon was corrupted easily, believing that he could rule Arda, and thus he turned into Sauron."

Max raised his hand, "So that would lead into Lord of the Rings, right?"

Jolder nodded, "Yes, Tolkien's research into the ancestry of humanity was mostly accurate, but he couldn't find any references to the Descension of Arda or the Exile of Man."

"Which would mean that The Silmarillion and the Unfinished Tales are flawed!" Max hypothesized.

"Exactly! said Saladin, "Tolkien misbelieved that Earth was Arda, neglecting the fact that gorillas and chimpanzees were evolving into Earth's own humanity, completely different from Arda's."

"So how did Arda lore arrive on Earth?"

"The House of Telcontar was set up by Aragorn to be the just and fair rulers of Gondor and Arnor," he began, "but the Fourth Age ended that in a civil war: The King of Gondor wanted to seize the Door of Night, but his only obstacles were Arnor and its Queen, his fifth cousin. They sent armies into war, desperately trying to reach their goals," the stars traced a massive battle with the heads of the Queen and King, placed behind their respective armies, Arnor on the left and Gondor on the right, "but the Queen passed away in the 4502nd year of the Fourth Age, crippling her army and granting Gondor victory over Arda." The Queen, now dead, was trampled on and overrun by a retreating Arnor and an advancing Gondor, "The King of Gondor now had unfettered access to the Door of Night, so he rode past Arnor to reach the Door, only to discover that the Kingdom was mysteriously empty and that Melkor's prison, the power that the King lusted for, had been sealed by 9 powerful runes." The Door of Night now stood closed and locked by 9 runes strapped across the seam, below it stood a dramatically baffled King of Gondor and his equally baffled army. "While Gondor repopulated the abandoned Kingdom of Arnor, the King fell into madness trying to decipher and crack open the runes, and he died later that year, bringing the Fourth Age to its end."

"Meanwhile," continued Jolder, "Arnor's citizens traveled from the Elvish Port in the west to reach a new world, a journey that Manwa blessed, and so they traveled via a Tesseract, arriving on Earth, just as chimpanzees and gorillas began to evolve into humans. Arnor's humans and Terra's humans mingled, and the rest is written in our history books, possibly with a little bit of sugar coating."

Max nodded, "Ok, so...why am I here instead of...?" he trailed off, hoping that he doesn't embarrass himself.

"In the Undying Lands?" Saladin and Jolder chuckled, "Because you're still needed!"

Max's eyes widened, then squinted in confusion, "How? And why?"

They presented a golden glowing sword and said, "Do you know who this is?"

Max took it, eyed the blade closely, and marveled at its existence, "Yes, I believe I do."

* * *

 _Author's Note: Hi, guys! Sorry that this has taken so long! I'm currently in college without my PS4, so yeah, I can't play Destiny 2 as of right now._

 _Also, yes this is a crossover, but I'm not placing it in the Crossover Section at this point because of one factor: You! The audience! I want to share my work with a majority of my readers, let alone the FanFiction community. But I can't do that in the Crossover Section as of right now since this is a crossover between Destiny and The Silmarillion, not Lord of the Rings._

 _Anyway, I'm sorry for taking so long with my next chapter, but rest assured, the protagonist hasn't died yet. Can you guess who they are?_


	3. Retreat

**Retreat**

I stood in front of Amanda's ship as Max was beamed aboard, then sped towards the Red Legion Command Ship. Little did I know at the time that this would be the last time I would ever see Max Prodigy alive, and the last kiss that I would ever share with him. Mala took my hand and said, "Shin! We need to help out the people in the City!"

My eyes were still fixed on Amanda's ship as it flew across the smokey black clouds covering the sky, then I nodded once and said, "Ok." I ran off with her as soon as I could, marching down the staircase and slaughtering Red Legion Cabal wherever we went, Legionaries, Phalanxes, Centurions, you name it, we killed it, all the way into the City. I was having fun for the first time since Age of Triumph! (Aside from the nights I had with Max.)

Then I felt it, my light was separated from my body, my Ghost said, "Shin, there's something wro..."

Before she could say another word, Alex softly fell into my hands. I stuffed her into my backpack and moved out of the Cabal's line of sight. And then I heard a loud THUD followed by an ear-piercing CRACK! I looked at the newly formed crater in front of me, and in the center- I could barely look. I ran, or rather, I tried to.

I ran, or rather, I tried to run to the crater, limping and almost crawling to it. Before I could reach the center of the shallow impact, I saw my boyfriend, lying on the ground, lifeless. "Max?" I called, "MAX!?" I didn't care if I tripped over tiny crevices and rocks, I ran to Max's side, sobbing, "Max, please don't die! Please don't! I need you!" I placed his limp hand on my bulging uterus, "THEY need you!" then I held his hand up to the side of my face, "Come on!" then dragged it over my heart, "Can you feel this? It's my heart pounding, screaming for you to stay alive!"

Mala approached the crater and interrupted me, "Shin! We need to move!"

"Not without Max!" I cried, "I can't just leave him here!"

"Shin! He's dead!"

I turned around to Mala, "HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT!? MY BOYFRIEND IS LYING THERE WITHOUT ANY HELP, AND YOU WANT ME TO JUST LEAVE HIM TO THE CABAL!? WHAT KIND OF FUNERAL IS THAT?!"

"I know how you feel, Shin, in a more platonic sense."

"YOU KNOW NOTHING!"

"I. KNOW. EVERYTHING!" Mala then calmed down, "I loved him like a friend, and I still do. We understood each other's Asexualities and hobbies. Heck! We practically shared them," Malahayahti then pierced my angry veil, "He loved you, dearly, and fought tooth and nail to keep you alive. He sacrificed himself for you. Now, it's time to honor that." I sobbed into Mala's cape, draping it over my head. She finished with, "The best funeral we can give him is to walk with our heads held high."

I nodded and sobbed, "Ok," then I turned to Max's corpse, weeping, "Good-bye, my love." I kissed him on the lips for 2 good minutes, for one last time. Then I rested his head back down to the ground and cried again. Mala slid an arm around my shoulders and together we limped out of the City's ruins, now patrolled by the Red Legion. I picked up a damaged sidearm at some point and said, "At least we won't die without a fight."

September 10th, 2762

We limped outside of the City Outskirts, in the wilderness. "Mala," I started to ask, "Are you tithed to the Light?"

She looked at me with perplexion, "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, are you a Ghoul or a Recruit?"

"I was a Recruit, remember? Then I tied my life force to Nightingale."

"So...a Ghoul?"

"Yes."

"But you're...still..."

"Strong?" she finished, "Yeah. I don't know what causes that, but it just happens."

Then we heard a bird caw, and we looked up in response. The bird was a beautiful shade of silverly navy blue with a green tail plumage, paired with a dull golden beak and a pair of orange eyes. I took one good look at it, "Mala! Do you see that?"

Mala nodded, "Yes."

"It's a falcon!"

The falcon flew away, above the mountain path where we tread. Out of nowhere, a couple of armored, orange, mutated hounds were ripping apart a Titan's carcass. That is until we arrived on the scene. The hounds turned their heads to us and attacked quickly. I shot the first one in the eye, sending it reeling for a second only for it to return. This time, it pounced on me, trying to tear me apart, until I punched it and shot it in the throat. Mala stabbed the second hound in the skull, throat, and jaw, effectively killing it. She dissected the hound's stomach and ripped it open, revealing a severed arm and an Arc Submachine Gun. The smell of the stomach would make anyone puke, Max in particular. I almost did, but Mala...well, let's just say that if she had a nose, she could either puke oil or say, "Fascinating!" Or both.

More hounds came, this time in a pack of 10. Mala tossed her knife into a Hound's mouth, hoping that it would sever the inner organs. Instead, the hound caught the knife with its jaws and crunched it into pieces, swallowing it whole. Mala's jaw dropped. I picked up the Submachine Gun and shot at the incoming hounds, mowing them down. The Sub-Mind dropped her state of shock and tried to assist me again, but I pulled away, saying, "I'm fine!"

"Shin?" she asked, "Are you alright?"

"I said I'm fine!" This time I added a firmness to my tone. Mala immediately backed off.

September 17th, 2762

The two of us hiked through Twilight Gap and around the mountain that stood as its border. We continued to follow the falcon as it led us through each wave of mutant hounds. Just after we reached a clearing in the mountain path, a single Cabal Legionary shouted, "WARBEASTS! ATTACK THE GUARDIANS!"

More hounds came, and we fought tooth and nail through every one of them, but not unscathed. A few gnawed at my left arm, some tried to bite my legs off, and at least 5 of them tried to rip Mala apart. I exploded in a fit of rage and ripped every Warbeast apart; decapitations, cutting the stomach with one of their jaws, and overall just fatally breaking their bones. The Legionary screamed, "YOU DARE KILL MY PETS!? I WILL FLAY YOU LIKE TINY FISH!"

I charged after him, avoiding his wrist-mounted plasma sword, grabbed his arms, wrestled his Arc Slug Rifle out of his grip, then tossed him off to the side, grabbed his rifle, and fired 3 rounds rapid into his skull.

Mala could barely stand, "shin..." she weakly said, "stop being so careless. you've done this for the past three days..."

"I don't care!" I barked with fire in my eyes, "The Cabal took our home, our Light, and our friends! They took Max Prodigy, the only person I ever cared about!" I turned toward her, "Know this, Malahayahti: I will avenge Max Prodigy, and I will not stop until every single Cabal and their assets lie dead!"

Mala looked at me with weak eyes, "shin..."

"I know that I sound like my enemy, but I don't-" Then I felt water trickling down my legs, seeping through my armor, "Oh Traveler! OH MY TRAVELER!"

Mala hopped to her feet, "ok, let's go to a safe place."

We followed the falcon once more, this time down a ledge to a small patrol team led by a woman in a blue and red poncho. The woman turned around, "Well, well, well, two Guardians lying about!" She shouted to the falcon, "Good job, Louis!" The falcon flew down to her arm, gently.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"Name's Suraya Hawthorne, and this is Louis," she gestured to the falcon, "He is the best pilot we have."

I screamed again, feeling the pain of my infant pounding against the uterus. Hawthorne was shocked, "A pregnant Guardian!" then she turned to one of her ships, "Wait for me!" She looked at Mala, "Can you help?"

"i'll try," groaned the Exo.

"Alright people, spin 'em up!" With each one carrying me by the shoulders, they carried me to the ship. When I looked to the sky, I could see a lunar eclipse against the night sky. _The blood moon!_

* * *

Dominus Ghaul Valu'uzar stood in the Throne Room of his command ship, staring at the trapped Traveler through his wide window, "Do you not see all that I have done!? I have accepted the challenge, embraced it fully, and have emerged victorious! Bless me with your Light, and I shall conquer more worlds than you can imagine! The Red Legion are your true guardians!"

His political advisors, Rehla and The Consul stepped forward. Rehla Valu'uzar was a female Psion with a white, purple, and gold cloak and horns. The Consul was an older Cabal with an elongated head and decked out in red and black, from his armor to his cloak. "Dominus," said The Consul, "The City is secure."

Rehla continued, "Those who fled are being hunted, and those foolish enough to remain have been executed with extreme prejudice. Victory, my son, is yours to claim, like all things." They now stood to Ghaul's right side, trading looks between him and the Traveler.

Ghaul addressed both of them, "It is as much your victory as it is mine, old friends."

The Consul replied, "All that's needed is to complete the Trapper's grip around this Great Machine, then we squeeze out and extract the Light and other raw materials, putting them to their rightful uses."

"Traveler," corrected The Dominus, "They called it The Traveler."

"I would agree with The Consul on this one," said Rehla, "The other civilizations are more precise with their naming. Its functions can be captured and exploited, as we have so clearly proven."

"And yet, everyone else, even the Eliksni, rever it as a god. The Vex call it their Devil, and the Hive and Taken simply call it 'food'."

"And you? What name would you give it?"

Ghaul pondered for a moment, thinking of a better name than 'Traveler' or 'Great Machine'. "The Weapon," he decided, "Its Light is a weapon, and it shall be called as such."

"Dominus," said The Consul, "Ghaul. The three of us have spent the better part of our lives reforging our empire from Calus's greed, from both the inside and the outside. Your father was corrupt, lazy, and careless. But we saw to his permanent exile, we rebuilt an empire that was almost destroyed by him and his followers, we made this happen!"

"You are the greatest leader we've ever had," finished Rehla, "When we drain that Machine's power, you will be named Emperor!"

Ghaul stared at the Traveler, _Emperor: A title I feared during my father's rule. Emperor: The only Cabal who delivers the first, final, and only action in the Empire. Emperor: A name revered by the weak and stupid, and a name that the strong rally behind. Emperor Calus would break me more times than I can count because he feared me and my strength. Emperor Calus could destroy an empire, but Emperor Ghaul! I shall rebuild it!_

"What more could the Dominus have?"

If Ghaul wasn't wearing a mask, he could be seen, grinning like a maniac, "I would have a few words with our guest!"

A hole in the ceiling opened up, lowering a mechanical pod which was level with the ceiling. Connected to the pod were a bunch of tubes and wires. There was a sound of liquid rushing through the pipes, then the pod opened up, revealing Speaker Ouros strapped to a mechanical X. She was soaking wet after her time inside the pod. "you know," she said breathlessly, "waterboarding is a crime against the law."

Ignoring her, Ghaul produced an electrical rod and threateningly said, "So, you're the one who speaks for the Traveler!" He raised his rod and said, "Tell me what I need to know!" Ghaul jabbed at Ouros once, sending 100 volts screaming into her body.


	4. A Hybrid's Birth

**A Hybrid's Birth**

I wailed as I was rushed out of Hawthorne's ship and into her base, also known as The Farm, on a makeshift ambulance bed. The entire ride from the Twilight Gap to The Farm took about 3 hours, all of which was spent by Hawthorne telling me to breathe and push into each contraction, despite feeling more pain in the next contraction. She told me upon entering her ship that I needed Pitocin, to start and increase the contractions. As soon as we left the ship, Hawthorne kept screaming, "OUT OF THE WAY! WE'VE GOT A PREGNANT GUARDIAN THAT'S ABOUT TO DELIVER!" Of course, this made everyone a bit curious as we rushed into a refurbished barn that doubled as a hangar and hospital. They wanted to see the birth, all of them; some were Guardians who were left for dead, others were refugees that were ousted by the City or other establishments. Hawthorne brought me to a hospital bed that they salvaged from a Golden-Age facility, then juggled between forcing the spectators out of the barn and telling me to breathe. After 5 minutes, she said, "Exo, what's your name?"

"malahayahti. everyone just calls me mala."

"Alright, Mala, I want you to stand by your friend here, tell her to breathe and push, and then catch the infant!"

"wait, catch?"

Hawthorne left without another word, driving the spectators away and closing the hangar doors. Mala weakly said, "if you feel them push against the opening, breathe into it and push them out."

I inhaled, then felt another push against my uterus, and pushed the infant out, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!" And then the pain was gone. I no longer screamed, and instead heard another cry, the crying of my child.

Mala held my newborn in her hands, and I thank her that they were covered up by her gloves. "congratulations, shin," she said faintly, "it's a girl. or at least, judging by what's between her legs."

I nodded, looking at her and my child, "Yes, she's a girl, at least for now. Can I hold her?"

Mala handed her over to me, my child still crying, gasping for air. "What shall we call you?" I asked the infant, "What sort of name shall we call you?" I stared her for a minute, taking in the beauty of my newborn, "Violet," I decided, "Violet Alexandria Malphur," then handing her back to Mala, I said to the Sub-Mind, "And you shall be her godmother."

Mala nodded as she took Violet back into her arms, "i'll do my best."

Hawthorne came over and said, "You're not done yet. One more contraction, and then we're done."

"ONE MORE!?" I shouted in confusion.

"Yes, the placenta and the umbilical cord need to be removed to avoid infections. Now, push!"

I did so, bringing on the pain one more time to clean out the uterus, and then I was done. Hawthorne took the placenta and threw it away, then said, "Congrats, Shin Malphur! You have just taken the first step to motherhood!"

I breathed a sigh of relief, "Can I get off the bed now? Or-" as soon as I placed a foot on the ground, I felt a little dizzy, "ooooooooooo."

Hawthorne placed me back on the bed, "Nope, you're not ready yet! Give it 12 hours, then we'll give you some physical therapy."

Mala tried to step away but also felt dizzy, "hawthorne," she said, handing Violet to her, "need...recharge..." And just like that, Mala fainted.

Hawthorne, having grabbed Violet just in time, said, "I'll get her to an Exo repair station, but you two," she gestured to Violet and myself, "need to rest and bond," and she handed Violet back to me.

"Thanks, Hawthorne!" I held Violet closer to my now bare chest, hopefully, so that she can hear my heartbeat. Then, I sang her to sleep, softly, sweetly, and gently. Just like my own mother.

Then I too fell asleep...

* * *

 _I was flying above the clouds, guided by a white eagle. When it opened its beak, it spoke instead of cawing like a normal bird. "Shin," it said, "Can you hear me?"_

 _I recognized the voice, "Max!?" I cried._

 _"Yes, it is me." Max took me to a place I barely knew, then cycled around a figure in the shape of a wholesome Traveler, "This is Io, the last place the Traveler touched and blessed before the Collapse," then he guided me below the Traveler, into a fractured cylinder whose top was caved in, and then we were suddenly underwater, looking at the fossilized bodies of millions of people, "Billions died when the Darkness came," the scene shifted, Max and I looked up at the surface of the water to find dozens of triangular jet black tetrahedrons that dove towards them, "Our Universe has been threatened by this force millions of times, Armageddons have occurred across because of it and its master: Melkor, The Dark Lord. But, as much as I hate to say it, there is a more urgent threat on the horizon," the scene shifted, this time into space, revealing a large, organic, world-eating machine that was currently devouring a planet, "The Cabal Leviathan, fueled by its emperor's greed and insatiable hunger, this thing is approaching the solar system at an alarming rate. If we don't stop it..."_

 _Then we too were swallowed by it, the scene slowly changed as we were traveling down a light blue shaft, and Max said, "But there is hope, Shin! I have made three weapons for you, Mala, and Kaden! Weapons of the Light!" We came out of the shaft, which was revealed to be a spear, next to it was a purple shield, reminiscent of the vibranium shield that Captain America once wielded, and above both was a flaming sword, contrasted against the space in between the random stars, "Unfortunately, I can't give them to you right now," the scene changed once more, this time revealing a jagged white shard that is slowly corrupting the land around it, "But seek out this Shard of the Traveler, I'll be waiting for you there."_

 _"Wait! Max!" But it was too late, he disappeared, and the dream ended..._

* * *

September 18th, 2762

I woke up to find Violet missing from my chest, then I shouted, "MALA!" at the top of my lungs.

The Sub-Mind walked into my 'room' with Violet in her arms, feeding her some milk out of a baby bottle. "Good morning, Shin! Sleep well?"

I nodded, "I know where we need to go!"


	5. A (Guardian's) New Hope

**A (Guardian's) New Hope**

"NO!" shouted Hawthorne, "You are NOT going to that Shard of the Traveler!"

I protested, "Hawthorne, we need our Light back!" Violet was too busy inside my chest to even care about what we were talking about.

Hawthorne shook her head, "Not one of my refugees has ever wanted to go to such a dangerous place, let alone with an infant!"

"Oh, Violet? She's not coming."

"Then who will take care of her?"

A familiar Hunter stepped forward and said, "I will!"

I turned around to find a transgender male Hunter who started to age from 18 to 19 or 20. "Graham!" I exclaimed, running over to embrace him, "It's so good to see you!"

"And you too!" he said as we hugged, then as we broke away, he noted, "Is Violet in there?"

I nodded, "Yep. I need you to take care of her while Mala, Kaden, and I go get our Light back."

"IF you can get it back!" interrupted Hawthorne.

Mala joined the conversation with, "This is the best thing that's ever happened to you, Suraya. Guardians looking for their Light? If we do get ours back, then you could have Guardians protecting refugee convoys all the way to the Farm!"

Hawthorne thought about this for a while, then said, "Alright, we'll see if it works, but the European Dead Zone is labeled as such for a reason, and it's not to draw attention to an amusement park."

I chuckled as I handed a clothed Violet off to Graham, who proceeded to gently rock her back and forth. "One more thing, can we borrow Kaden for a while?"

"Absolutely!" Graham was still rocking Violet, paying no attention to anyone else.

Hawthorne sighed, "Take that ship I gave you, it'll get you back faster. And one more thing: I haven't lost a single refugee yet, don't any of you three be my first!"

I nodded, then grabbed Mala and Kaden, and we headed off to the EDZ in our ships. Once we arrived, The three of us noted the large wall ahead of us, ran down towards it, then crawled under a pile of cars to reach the other side of the wall. The other side was like the side we landed on, ruined from the Collapse, rusted cars scattered about, and cracked pavement for miles, except that the air was darker and the forest started to branch out and threaten the ruins of humanity via gnarled branches and roots. We advanced along the road, through a tunnel that was now guided by the gnarled wood. Mala said, "Kind of reminds me of a modern Mirkwood."

Kaden and I looked at her like she had grown 10 Exo heads, then shrugged as we walked further along the path. Then we reached a cavern with a couple of stalagmites placed here and there, a cavern that we were ambushed in when we reached the bottom. The enemy, in this case, was a couple of hooded, invisible Fallen, all of which were robbed of their lives by us easily. I asked, "What kind of Fallen are these? Their colors are unrecognizable."

"No idea," signed Kaden. Kaden-9 was a mute Exo Titan, for reasons that I couldn't guess, but his ears were installed, as I'm told when he decided to be an ambassador for struggling civilizations, right around the time when Max and I were focused on killing the Taken King.

As soon as we passed through an old building and reached its roof, I took a quick look at the surroundings, "That's it!" I shouted, "That's the Shard of the Traveler! That's where we're going to get our Light back!"

Mala asked, "Really? It looks..."

"...ominous!" signed Kaden.

"I know," I answered, "but it's our best chance to get our powers back." We descended down to the ground and followed the broken path to the Shard, interrupted by a couple Fallen Dregs that shouted, "LIGHT IS OURS! HOUSE JUDGEMENT RULES ALL!"

We took cover from the zealous and trigger-happy Fallen, firing back with whatever meticulous strength we had, then advancing, slowly but surely towards the inner workings of the Shard, upon which we found a Fallen altar dedicated to the last unblighted piece of the giant Shard and a bunch of Fallen praying to it.

"Aw, look!" whispered Mala, "They're so peaceful!"

Kaden nodded, "Yes, most of the Eliksni are. These ones-"

I shot at one Dreg's head, then proceeded to slaughter the rest of the Fallen on site. "-are in our way!" I finished Kaden's sentence.

Mala and Kaden looked at me in confusion, "What was that for?" asked the Sub-Mind.

"These Fallen are stealing our light! OUR LIGHT!"

"No, they were here first."

"But it's our powers! The Traveler blessed us!"

"And it blessed the Fallen at one point too."

I brushed the last comment aside, "Whatever, the Light is ours! Not the Fallen's! Not the Red Legion's! OURS!" I tossed my Ghost at the unblighted piece, then Alex came back to life and blasted us with a pure concentration of Light, and we fainted...

* * *

...and then we were someplace different, a temple made of stardust, resting in the middle of the vacuum of space. I stood side by side with Mala and Kaden, all three of us coming to our senses, "Where are we?"

"The Temple of Light," announced a familiar voice, "The last safe place for any of the Ainur."

We turned to look at a familiar, yet angelic figure. I gasped, "Max!?"

He grinned, "Hey, Shin!" I leaped to him and kissed him all over his face as he cried, "Gently, Shin, please!" I ignored him until he said, "Ok, ok, please stop!"

"I lost you for two whole weeks!"

He lifted my chin, "So long as I am a Maiar, you do not need to worry about me." Then he gently leveled it and said, "Now, the reason why I called you here is simple: I come bearing gifts!" Then he approached us and said, "Now, why are you known as Guardians? Why did Saladin choose you to become Iron Lords?"

Kaden signed first, "Justice!"

Mala said, "Versatility!"

I said, "Valor!"

Max approached Malahayati first and produced an electrified staff in his hands, "This is Ixkhril, the Arc Spear. It is versatile as it is mobile; use it well and its resourcefulness will come to you." He handed the Arc Spear to Mala and added, "If anyone asks for you to pole dance with this thing, stab them!"

Mala grinned, "It'll be an honor!"

Max stepped to Kaden and produced a purple shield reminiscent of Captain America's vibranium shield, "This is Aveorn, the Sentinel Shield. 100 times stronger than normal plasteel and a tenth of its weight, this is fueled by the Void, but its purpose is anything but. It was designed to protect the people and the ideas that you love; while walls with jagged meanings separate two opposing sides, shields are meant to defend justice, honor, and liberty!" Max handed it off to Kaden, "And it's yours, Kaden!"

Kaden took the shield and signed, "Thank you!"

Finally, Max turned to me and said, "And for you, my dear Shin," he drew a golden, flaming sword, "Once, it was known as Narsil, the Light of Men, until it was shattered by Sauron, then reforged by Elrond into Anduril, the Flame of the West. Anduril would later be atomized by an unknown race drawn to Morgoth's power. But Manwa saved the atoms and reforged them with the light of a star to create this sword!" He held it out for me, "This is Valinael, the Dawnblade!" I took the sword from his hand as he continued, "Shin, I know that you want to take on the world because I'm 'dead', but know this: True courage comes not from taking lives, but knowing when to spare one." Then he stepped back and said, "Now. Eyes up, Guardians!"

And just like that, we were gone...

* * *

We were back at the Shard, this time overrun by Fallen. A giant Captain shouted, "THEY STOLE LIGHT! KILL THEM DEAD!" Our Ghosts returned to our sides and said, "Light 'em up, Guardians!" Mala called for her Spear, Kaden formed his Shield, I drew my sword, and we charged at the Eliksni.

Our Ghosts returned to our sides and said, "Light 'em up, Guardians!" Mala called for her Spear, Kaden formed his Shield, I drew my sword, and we charged at the Eliksni with all of our strength. Mala drove Ixkhril into a Vandal, then pole vaulted to the next Vandal and hooded Maurader, killing them as well. Kaden knocked a few Dregs or spear-wielding Wretches aside with Aveorn, sending them into rocks, trees, or my Sword. Meanwhile, I was busy cutting down Servitors and Captains with Valinael, burning each one into ashes. The giant Captain jumped down and shouted, "IF WE CAN'T HAVE SHARD, NOBODY CAN!"

All three of us converged on the Captain and brutally slew him before he could even scratch the uncorrupted piece. We whooped and cheered as the Fallen shouted, "RETREAT! RETREAT!"

"We did it, we did it! Oh yeah, yeah, yeah!" I sang.

Kaden suggested, "Can we take this piece? For the Farm that is?"

"Yes! Absolutely!" and we transmitted it with us back to the Farm.


	6. Farming for People

**Farming for People**

Xylar stood before Melkor, his horned crown fixed on top of his wide head frame. "My Lord, the Hybrid has arrived."

Melkor grinned, "Excellent! The plan can move forward as expected!

"Yes, master. Shall I retrieve her now?"

"No, keep Nessus functioning properly and leave the Hybrid alone for the time being. She will come to us soon enough."

* * *

We came back to the farm with The Traveler's shard in hand. Guardians from the soccer field in the North, the barn in the east, the docks from the south, and the house from the West, all came to the central Fountain to touch the Shard. Knife-less Hunters got Arc Staffs, weakened Titans obtained Void Shields, and Warlocks who once felt distant from the stars now wielded Daybreak blades of golden suns. I ran up to Graham and Hawthorne and shouted, "Hey guys! Look at us!"

"I see," said Hawthorne, "You got your Light back," then her face changed from annoyed to smug, "Maybe you can help us after all."

"Eh?" I took Violet back from Graham and gently rocked her.

"I sent a friend into the EDZ a while ago to set up a comms network. His name is Devrim Kay, good guy, excellent shot, but don't tell him I said that. Just be careful around the old town and the church a lot of activity is happening there and it's not good."

"Gotcha," I said smugly, "we'll be sure not to tell him."

Hawthorne sighed, "Just go, and take Graham with you, he's being a nuisance with my soccer team." She took Violet out of my hands and proceeded to feed her milk out of a bottle.

Graham, Kaden, Mala, and I left the Farm for the Trostland in the EDZ. the environment was just as Hawthorne described: an old church surrounded by a decaying town, with a few rusted cars tossed about the place.

We ran through the church entrance and up the stairs to meet Devrim Kay who is sitting in the church tower. "A guest," said a man with greying hair, a fair face, an English accent, and a decorated scout's uniform, "and here I have no tea to serve. The name's Devrim Kay, the 8th, at your service. Hawthorne tells me that you can help. She's setting up the comms network at the top of the salt mines right now, and I need to get her a booster. While I'm working on that, why don't you take a look around the Trostland, starting with the Fallen banner on the main floor."

We touched the ground floor again and scanned the banner on the right side of the entrance. Nightingale, Mala's Ghost, examined it and said, "This is a House of Judgement banner, surrounded by a bunch of Fallen skulls on spears. I wonder if they are working for or against Variks."

"That is curious, but the Fallen have put this up as a bit of a threat." He straightened his voice and said, "Now, there's chest somewhere in the old buildings. There might be some good items in there." Mala went outside, killed a couple Fallen in a ruined two-floor house, then opened the chest on the roof and came back down to us with the loot. "Ah! I see you like to share! It's nice to find Guardians who don't fall to greed in the wilds," Devrim was impressed for a brief moment, then said, "Now back to business, there's a symbol on the wall of the church, go ahead and have a look at it."

As soon as we did, Mala commented, "Found it, but what does it stand for?"

"Your City Hunters have placed these icons all around the EDZ and beyond ever since the Age of Triumph," answered Devrim, "It means 'Danger!'"

My grin widened with excitement, "Or loot!"

Alex added, "Or both! High risk, high reward!"

"Alright! Let's go!"

We descended into a tunnel that led to a subway track, which led to an abandoned security room with Fallen flooding the interior, led by a brutal Captain. after cleaning up the room and killing the Captain, we opened a treasure chest and collected its loot. Devrim came back on the comms with, "Are you guys alright? I heard a lot of gunfire down there."

"We're fine, Devrim," answered Mala.

"Excellent! Now come back up to the church tower, I'm putting a kettle on now!" The three of us raced each other to the tower, but when we met with Devrim again, he was drinking our tea! "Oops! It looks like I got a little thirsty. oh well..." before I can even speak in protest, Devrim said, "So, Hawthorne has asked me to tell you that she is starting to set up her comms network. But she needs help boosting the signal. She wants you to go and place these three amplifiers at three different coordinates." He hands them to Mala, and she thanks him. Then we rush downstairs to the outdoors and plant the first beacon. That's when we got the bad news. "Hold on!" said the gentleman sniper, "I'm reading Fallen interference on the channels! Find those Vandals and disrupt their jammers!"

I thought, _Fallen!_ _It's always the Fallen!_ Kaden pulled out two auto rifles, one armed with kinetic bullets and one with arc energy, and begin slaughtering the Eliksni. As soon as Vandals fled and the signal cleared up, Hawthorne's channel begin to stream into our headsets, albeit with white noise. "Well done...still need two...the signal."

Devrim came on next, "The Farm's signal's coming through, but it's still a bit shabby. We need two more signal amplifiers."

"10-4," I said, "Where should they go?"

"In the Outskirts, close to the shore. I'm sending coordinates now." As soon as we got them, we ran through the road on the left of the church, towards the Outskirts of the village and placed two more amplifiers at opposite ends. "The channel's coming thr-" Devrim paused, then announced, "Damn it! The Fallen are jamming our comms again! Find the sources of the interference and destroy them!"

As soon as we scouted the adjacent river's shoreline and the village bordering it for the sources, we found three Fallen Jammers and one high servitor commanding all of them. After laying waste to all sources of interference, Hawthorne's voice came through as clear as a bell. "Excellent work, Guardians! Now as a bonus, I've stashed a loot cache somewhere near the town. I'm sending coordinates now."

Alex examined the coordinates and said, "That's odd, they're across the river."

"Yep, I stashed them there for the City of while back, before I realized that the walls around it meant something else."

"Suraya," corrected Devrim, " I think you meant 'thought'. The City is not a prison, it was a safe place to keep Humanity out of the wretched claws of the Fallen."

Hawthorne's voice turned bitter, "Yeah, and guess what else has walls that you can't climb over: prisons!" then smug, "Have you forgotten, old friend? Walls have two purposes: keeping unfriendly people out and keeping your slaves and subjects in."

"Hawthorne," I protested, " I've lived in the city my whole life. From personal experience, the walls do not keep us in. I've traveled outside of them I've traveled outside of them once or twice."

"You only say that because you're a Guardian," quipped Suraya, "a brain-dead soldier looking to exterminate everything non-Light in their path!"

I raised my voice in anger, " Hawthorne! I am not a mindless soldier like your claims suggest! I am a Warlock who is trained to determine what makes us Light and what makes them Darkness! I am fully capable of understanding what is my enemy and what isn't!"

Behind the comms veil, I detected a grin from Hawthorne, "As I said, a brain-dead soldier."

"Guys!" shouted Devrim, " I'm not willing to let you argue and bicker about who's right and who's wrong! We have a goal in mind, let's stick to it!"

Mala nodded, "Agreed, we have too much to worry about right now. Let's focus on the loot cache, find it, grab it, and get out. It'll be useful for the Farm."

We ran across the bridge that took us to the loot cache's site, which was already overrun by Fallen. After killing all of them on site, Kaden investigated all the caches in the area and signed, "Nothing useful here! Ziltch! Nada! Absolutely Zippo chance of finding anything useful!"

I shouted, "Damn!"

Devrim asked, "What's wrong?"

"The cache has already been looted!"

Devrim sighed. Hawthorne moaned, "great. just great." she straightens her voice and said, "Place another amplifier down, then get out of there!"

As soon as we did, Fallen dropships known as Skiffs approached the site and deposited more Fallen Dregs, Vandals, Wretches, Marauders, and Shanks down to the surface. I locked and loaded my kinetic Sidearm and my Arc Submachine Gun, then fired at the incoming Shanks and Vandals, mowing them down with the Sub and sniping at the Vandals' heads with the Sidearm. Kaden sprayed his Auto Rifle bullets across a line of charging Wretches, occasionally jumping from Dreg to Dreg. Mala grabbed two functioning Hand Cannons off of a table and opened fire at the Marauders, aiming at their heads. 10 more Marauders cloaked themselves and fired en masse from their wire rifles. Mala cracked her knuckles, joints, and back, then ran to and parkoured from tent to tree, sometimes swinging in circles on the overhanging wires, then jumping mid-air and killing all 10 with both Hand Cannons. She walked back to us, reloading both cannons, saying, "That," gesturing to the bodies, "was merely a warm-up!" A Vandal crawled on two arms before Mala shot at its head, without turning towards it.

Graham dropped his jaw in amazement, as did Kaden. The Titan signed, "That was so awesome! You need to teach me that sometime!"

I gaped in astonishment just by looking at her. Then she began to glow, her purple and grey tones made her look alluring, and her green eyes made me feel like I was in love. The Sub-Mind approached me and said, "Shin, you're creeping me out with that stare."

I snapped back to reality, "Huh? Oh! Sorry! I...um...we need to get going."

Once we left, Devrim announced, "Smashing job, Guardians! I've got the booster working! Come on back to the church, then I'll tell you where to go next." Bypassing the Fallen along the Outskirts and the Trostland, we reached Devrim Kay in the church tower once more, just as he was finishing up. He turned around and handed us a small motherboard with soldered capacitors, inductors, resistors, signal amplifiers, and ports, "Ok, I've modified this booster to send Hawthorne's Safe Haven Signal across the Earth. But in order for that to happen, I had to encrypt its source code, that way the Red Legion cannot trace it back to the EDZ. Go to the top of the salt mines, Hawthorne gets impatient easily." Just as we were about to leave, Devrim warned, "Oh! One more thing! Keep that booster away from any electricity! I didn't have time to make a case for it."

I nodded, "Don't worry, we'll be careful with it." We ran in the opposite direction on the ground floor, into a ruined building that led to the salt mines, encountering a small trough and a few rusted metal boxes along the way. "Hey!" shouted Hawthorne through the comms, "When is that booster arriving at the peak? I'm getting impatient."

Devrim explained, "Our four Guardians are climbing up the salt mines with it now. I'm growing old just by looking after you, Suraya."

"FINALLY!" she shouted, "Did you hear that, guys!? Devrim admits he's old!"

"So?" I asked.

"So," she emphasized, "It means that _I_ have something to defend myself with when Devrim criticizes my day-long errand runs."

Devrim jokingly snapped back, "Day-long? You take up an entire week to complete one simple job and made my hair grey!"

"Yeah yeah, keep talking _old man_!" she playfully replied.

Kaden grinned and signed, "I ship them, _hard!_ "

"Please don't!" I signed back, "She's 30-something and he's...I don't know...in his 50's or 60's!"

Mala signed, "In that case, I 'boat' them."

As we walked into a small, wrecked storage house with an elevator in the back and a bunch of broken pipes hanging overhead, Graham asked, "Boat? What does that mean?"

"A boat?" Devrim and Suraya were confused, "Where did you see a boat?"

Mala chuckled nervously, "Hehe...um...just a sec!" She turned off her radio, then gestured us to do the same. "Remember how Tyra Karn shipped Shin and me with Max? It's like that except it's more platonic than romantic."

"Ohhhhhh!" I said, rushing to the elevator. "This is our ticket up!" I pulled down on a lever to call for an elevator car, and it did its duty. Its final 'duty.'

The car rushed down exponentially from 10000 kilometers in the air, striking the ground at the force great enough the damage both the car and the outside cage. I stepped back with my friends just in time. "Aaaand there goes our only way up," complained Graham.

"There's always another way up," declared the Sub-Mind, "Come on! We need to find it!" Treading down the tunnel to the mine shaft, Devrim warned, "Be careful! the Fallen are scavengers the highest order. Whatever they find, whatever they can get their claws on, they'll fight to the death to keep or steal it."

I rolled my eyes, thinking that the gentleman sniper had now become Captain Obvious. Then we met some Fallen, in the equipment room. We took cover behind Kaden's Towering Barricade, then fired back at the Dregs and Vandals. Mala and I used rusted crates to advance on the Fallen, shooting down Dregs with Hand Cannons and a sidearm. Kaden sprayed bullets at Vandals from his two Autos, while Graham sniped at the Captain from a distance. "Same old, same old," I yawned, "When will they present a challenge?"

"Probably when they augment themselves with SIVA again," joked Malahayahti. We arrived at the mine shaft, a downward spiral of at least a kilometer, filled with Dregs and Vandals on each parkour platform down, and Shanks flying straight up from the bottom to the top. We busted up the flying Shanks as we descended, and killed the Vandals and Dregs along the way. The bottom was dark enough for obstacles to be obscured and cloaked by shadow. Fortunately enough, our Ghosts had flashlights installed, so we followed a small tunnel leading to a string of rooms. Unfortunately, there were a lot of trip mines, 8 for every 2 feet of tunnel length. Devrim said, "Well well well! The Fallen are clearing out of the mines!"

"That's good news!" I said. After navigating the halls and 'disarming' the mines, we reached a tall and expansive room, with an elevator in the back. I shouted, "Hey! We found an elevator!"

"You're good!" remarked Hawthorne, " _Almost_ as good as Louis."

Mala released Nightingale to the control panel, who announced, "Um, guys?"

"What is it, Nightingale?" asked Mala.

"The wires are sheered! Freshly sheered!"

Devrim added, "Uh-oh!"

"What's wrong?" asked Graham.

"Remember what I said about the Fallen leaving the mines?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, now they're rushing back in!"

I shouted, "It's a trap! Prepare yourselves!" Fallen began to swarm us from all sides, Vandals and Mauraders crawled down the walls, Dregs and Wretches led by three Servitors were flooding the room from the entrance.

We reloaded our weapons, Kaden set up another Barricade, and I dropped a Healing Rift. Nightingale was busy trying to close 20 different circuits, most of them creating sparks. Mala picked up a sniper from the ground and began unloading into the first of the three Fallen Ether suppliers. Graham was busy moving about, killing Mauraders with his knife, using each body as a chain of death. Kaden ran out of bullets quickly, his barricade shattered afterward. He summoned Aveorn and charged against the enemy, throwing his shield at a Servitor, destroying its eye, and its life. He bashed into another Servitor, blasting it into pieces, then he reverted to his Auto Rifles once Aveorn disappeared. Mala summoned Ixkhril and chained Arc kills again, pole vaulting to each enemy, slamming down with her spear after she jumped into the air, swinging the spear left and right like a baseball bat, overcharging struck Dregs and colliding them with other Dregs or the last Servitor remaining. An Archon appeared on site with a loud roar and a Secondary Servitor, multiple dregs followed. I willed Valinael into my hands and charged, sending deadly blows into the Dregs, delivered a fiery slice to the Servitor, cutting it cleanly in half. The Archon growled again and fired molten shrapnel from its gun at me. I blocked each attack with my sword then stabbed the Archon in the throat before beheading it.

Nightingale announced, "Elevator's here! Let's go!" More Fallen arrived en masse. All 4 of us ran into the elevator car, I barely scraped by, and the Vandals almost touched us. The doors closed behind them and the car ascended, slowly. Vandals crawled up the walls, Shanks following them as they fired at us. We returned that fire for a while before reaching the top, then rushed out of the car and into fresh air. The top of the salt mines was a cliff, not shallow, the ground's width between the ledge and the rock face leading up to a mountain was large enough to support a convoy of tanks, and the length on which we walked was close to 10 kilometers.

When we reached Hawthorne, I shouted, "Hey, Hawthorne! Look what we brought!"

Suraya still held Violet in her arms, this time rocking her back and forth. "Well well well, looks like Louis owes me money!" We traded Violet for the comms booster, the Farm Overseer began to program the antenna to broadcast the signal while I fed Violet some milk. Hawthorne announces, "And there goes our signal! Now we can escort more people to the Farm!" Graham cheered, Kaden 'danced' for a little bit, Mala did the same while I looked on. _Such happy Guardians!_

Then the Antenna's computer blipped, Hawthorne looked at the monitor and said, "That's interesting," then she turned to us, "there's an incoming message," and she played it.

Anna's voice was heard through the speakers, "To my fellow Guardians, wherever you may be, our City is lost. If you can hear this, then I am setting up a counter-offensive on Titan, one of Saturn's moons. If you wish to take back the City, then rally to Titan, for hope." The message played itself in a loop.

I realized, "That's Anna! She's alive! The Vanguard is still alive! And if we make it to Titan, we can-"

Hawthorne stopped the looped message and barked, "You are NOT going to Titan!" She straightened herself, moved closer to us, and motioned to the Dead Zone, "We now have refugees coming into the Farm, but they are walking into the crosshairs of both the Fallen and the Red Legion. Guardians like you must provide for their defense!"

"But we have our powers back-" I protested.

"Exactly my point!"

Then I raised my voice, trying to make her understand, "-and we need to give them hope! We can take back the City and-"

"YOUR CITY IS **GONE!** " she shouted, "HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE YOU TO REALIZE THAT, WARLOCK!?" She shook her head, grabbed her stuff, and turned away, "If any of you leave us here to die, don't come back to the Farm ever again!"

* * *

Ghaul stood off to Ouros's side, looking at the trapped Traveler. Speaker Ouros was now dripping with water and smoking from the electrical shocks, "It will save both of us a lot of time if you could just kill me."

The Dominus quipped, "For one calls herself 'Speaker', you have been remarkably silent," he slowly paced in front of her, then said, "My scouts tell me of three Guardians that reconnected themselves to the Light, then spread this gift to the other Guardians in what you call 'The European Dead Zone'." Then he drew himself closer to her, "If you say that you have no power over the Traveler, then tell me how the Light works!"

"The Light," Ouros began, "lives in all places, in all things. You can block it, scatter it, even try to trap it, but the Light will find its way," then she raised her voice, or as best as she could muster, "AND THE TRAVELER WILL PROTECT ITSELF!"

"The Traveler," he began to pace in front of her again, "For years, I have studied it and its powers over life and death. I have seen the worlds it has touched, the Light that flowed through them, and the Darkness that came afterward. We are not so different, your Traveler and I."

"You are nothing like the Traveler!" quipped the Speaker, "NOTHING!" She drew in another breath, "You think you have power, control, and strength? You do NOT! I have seen and foreseen enemies like you; you started out small, try to gain god-like powers, but no matter what, you will end small and die forgotten!"

Ghaul growled and began to choke Ouros, "If the Traveler does have an inch of sentience and has chosen humanity for its weakness over my strength, then there should be no reason why I cannot use this ship's extractors, TEAR OUT ITS LIGHT FOR MYSELF AND LEAVE THIS SYSTEM IN ASHES!"

Ouros struggled to breathe against Ghaul's grip, but managed to choke out, "Only those the Traveler chooses shall be blessed with the Light!"

He relaxed his grip and reached for his electric rod, "And that is why you still live, and why I haven't alrighty burned this system into dust." He jabbed her again, keeping the rod held in her stomach, "Your Traveler **WILL** choose me, Speaker. You will tell me **HOW**."


	7. Leaving for Titan

**Leaving for Titan**

That night, the four of us gathered in the church tower with Devrim, who brewed tea for all of us, and this time, he didn't drink all of it. "So," he began, sipping his earl grey tea, "I understand that you four had a row with Suraya."

"Yes," answered Mala, who was busy rocking Violet to sleep, "She blew off some steam in front of Shin."

"You mean 'exploded', right?" I sipped some of my own tea: green with a little honey.

"I'm afraid that's Hawthorne for right now. But she has a reason: she abused as a child, tried to run away from her parents, but Guardians always brought her back to her home, where she was abused again. Eventually, she decided to leave for good, so she took a messenger bag, a tall canteen filled with water, and left the City entirely, never looking back."

"So why does she shackle us?"

Devrim rebutted, "Possibly because Guardians shackled her in the past. She lost all hope in the City and found solace in the wilds," he drank more from his cup, then said, "She built the Farm as a safe haven for people who wanted nothing to do with the City or its bureaucratic laws. Just take a look at the Concordat and the Age of Triumph: bureaucratic and tyrannical leaders that pushed for oppressive laws and reduced the people down to mere slaves. In those cases, we are not so different from the Red Legion."

"But we are!" I exclaimed, "We can give hope to the people once more!"

"And how will you do that?"

"By rallying to Titan!"

"Suraya would say, 'Hope lies within the Farm, not the City.'" Devrim drank his tea down to the last drop, "But as for me, I wish to see humanity thrive again. How they do that is entirely up to them. We need to be their shield."

"I still say that we should go to Titan," I declared, gulping down my tea.

Graham shook his head, "Not me."

I rested the cup down on the floor, "Why not?"

"You heard Hawthorne: The Farm needs us!"

I stood up, "She wants us chained to her will, Devrim confirmed this!"

He stood to match my height, "If we go to Titan, we'll be facing more Red Legion and Fallen, not to mention the Hive, Vex, and Taken!"

Kaden rose and signed, "He's right, we could be risking our lives just by venturing outside of Earth..."

Graham said, "See!?"

The Titan continued, "...but it's worth a shot."

"WHAAAAAAT!?" shouted the Hunter, "ARE YOU CRAZY!?"

"Graham," Kaden signed as calmly as he could, "we need to give people hope. Hawthorne's plans are only short-term ones, and we need something that is longer in time. For right now, the Traveler is in danger, as are its people."

"The Farm can help them!" Graham drew out his words so that everyone can hear, "We lost the old City, so now it's time to build a new one!"

Mala stood, still gently rocking Violet in her arms, "We don't have that kind of time, Graham. We may be immortal, but the refugees are not. Some are still living inside the City, waiting for us to rescue them from the Red Legion's iron fist; others have escaped to the Farm, but they still live in fear for their relatives and friends. Either way, they lost hope, just like Hawthorne did."

I nodded, "And we're the only ones that can restore that hope. We have to try, at the very least."

Graham looked at all of us in shock, then shook his head and scoffed, "Whatever, go kill yourselves if you want. I'm staying on Earth, and if it means I'm removed from the fireteam, so be it!" He stormed off and proceeded to kill some Fallen surrounding the church.

The rest of us stared in shock as he left, Devrim looked down at Graham's untouched tea and said, "It's a shame, he had a nice cup of chai black tea, too."

I took the cup and drank it all, _Cold, alas._ Then I said to Mala and Kaden, "If you two want to back out..."

They shook their heads, "We walk with you, Shin."

I nodded, "Ok then," I turned to Devrim and asked, "Look after Graham for us, please?"

He replied, "I'll try, but he's bound to get in trouble at some point." Sure enough, he did, by robbing a couple of Fallen of their voice modulators and explosives, then used them to insult and aggravate the Red Legion into mobilizing at the top of the salt mines. Then we heard the sounds of gunshots coming from the top of the mines, followed by 10 different explosions. "Well, that was quick!"

"Yeah, Hunters will be Hunters," I joked.

Mala nudged me, "Hey! I'm a Hunter, and I rarely land in trouble!"

"You're a Sub-Mind, that's different."

The Sub-Mind eyed me for a while before joking, "Yeah, sometimes Warlocks can be power hungry."

I playfully nudged her, "Oi!"

"Only kidding, they're just annoying scholars." Devrim, Mala, and I had a good laugh while Kaden snorted humorously, and then we three Guardians teleported to our ships, sailing straight for Titan.

* * *

Variks sat on his throne, the ex-Kell of Kings stepped into the throne room, "Variks!" He called out in the Fallen Tongue, "Your scavenging missions are failing!"

The Judgement Kell stood, "Failing? Explain!"

"An untainted Shard of the Traveler has been claimed by 3 Guardians, your plans to scour the Dead Zone for machinery and jam humanity's last comms network have backfired, and your attempts to slay Shin, Mala, Kaden, and Graham have been foiled by their new powers!"

"Then we increase production of Shanks and Servitors! More machines would-"

The ex-Kell barked, "NO! Our people have spoken: you are a terrible leader! Stand aside, or I'll kill you myself!"

Variks stammered, "But-"

The Kell fired a warning shot, "NOW!" Before Variks could move, the Kell jumped up to the throne and threw Variks out of the room, closing the door behind him. The Kell now sat on the Throne and said, "From now on, we are to be called the House of Dusk! Send the fleets out to Titan and Nessus! And bring me the body of Uldren Sov!"


End file.
